It’s the crucial moment just after the ball pitches and takes off the turf...that moment, where one's fate as a batsman or a bowler is sealed and depending on their capabilities. That critical juncture will be the point of focus here...

Along
with Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir, they managed to score 120 runs without losing
a wicket at lunch.

Their
134-run partnership for the first wicket was broken by Graeme Swann as ripped off
Gambhir’s timber as it slid inside as he looked to play it on the off side. He
played a cautious innings of 45 from 111 deliveries.

Swann
was the highlight from England’s side with his figures of 4/85 in 32 overs. But
the visitors were sloppy on the field with misfields and dropped catches.

Meanwhile,
Sehwag continued his blitzkrieg from the other end with a plundering six off
Tim Bresnan’s bowling as the ball sailed over long-on.

Pujara
played sensibly as he kept rotating the strike with Sehwag to continue the
momentum.The
latter brought up his hundred with a boundary of Swann’s bowling.

Their
90-run second wicket partnership came to an end with Najafgarh batsman completely
misjudging the Swann’s turn and got bowled while trying to sweep.

Sachin
Tendulkar added 13 runs to the total- he succumbed to the bowling of Swann.

Virat
Kohli also showed some aggressive intent by scoring three boundaries in his
innings of 19 before getting bowled to Swann’s bowling.

As Swann broke open the
top order, Pujara kept the scoreboard ticking who bought up his second Test
fifty.

His innings exemplified
resilience and impressive stroke-play. He ended the day with a boundary off the
last ball taking his score to 98*. He
was accompanied by Yuvraj Singh (24*) on the other end.

Monday, August 20, 2012

One of the finest knocks that Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman played
was inside the conference room of the Rajiv Gandhi international stadium in
Hyderabad on August 18th. It was built with humility, power,
elegance and the usual ingredient in his innings- focus.

He announced retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect; a
declaration which came as a surprise even to the chief of selectors K.
Srikkanth. It is necessary to point out though, that this was not the farewell
the man deserved for the services he meted out to the nation for over 15 years.

V.V.S. Laxman- a class apart!

A day before announcement, a national daily had reported that the
veteran player had been hurt by the recent comments in the cricketing circles about
his dip in form. However, ironically, he scored a marvellous 169 versus
Karnataka State Cricket Association President’s XI. It was obvious from the
immediacy of the decision. A newspaper rightly titled its piece on the batsman’s
retirement- ‘Retired Hurt’ and it couldn’t be more apt.

The contemplation for this decision had begun already before the
Ind-NZ series and it was expected that his home turf would witness the wristy
magician’s last walk on the cricket field. However, and as usual, he managed to
surprise. He did that in 2001 when India had almost conceded a defeat and a
resilient Laxman scored that gem of 281 to win the match. His innings of 148
versus Australia (probably overshadowed with Rahul Dravid’s 233) epitomized
fighting spirit.

He was a silent assassin for the team and set an example with his irreplaceable
determination. His hunger to play the game for the ‘team’ elevated him in the
league of the extraordinary gentlemen almost from his debut. The quality was witnessed
very differently in his match-winning innings of 73 versus Australia at Mohali
in 2010. It was a fiery innings when passion his and aggression were
particularly visible on the field. Take a look:

In a nutshell, the latter half of this decade has seen three of the
holy four cricketers hanging up boots at the right time. His last series in
Australia could be one exception in his performances- probably the time he felt
the age was catching up to him. Nevertheless, the silent hero would never be
forgotten from fans like me.

His successor S.Badrinath, who replaced him, would have a huge
responsibility to fulfill. Given his experience in mind, as a fan, I can only
hope that he could come up to the levels of the great cricketer.

Thank you VVS for all that you have done for the game. You will
surely be missed.

About Me

As the saying goes "One tends to learn a lot if you are ready to be a beginner". So, here I am, a beginners attempt at blogging as well as writing on cricket and business. Please feel free to comment on the pieces..